Sunday, October 31, 2010

Eerily Grateful...

So, as I am sure everyone has heard, Brooklyn had a rough week. I didn't get much sleep (neither did Brooklyn or Nick for that matter). And I pretty much didn't get anything really productive accomplished. (Please ignore the yucky nose in the picture and focus on the two cute little pearly-whites poking through).


I called the doctor on Friday, intending to set up a well-check for her first birthday sometime next week. They had an opening and said they would do her well-check AND see if they could help with her cough. So, I took her in (Annalie in tow) and they ended up saying they thought she had the beginnings of RSV...and they were putting her on breathing treatments to nip it before it got worse.

Well, the "breathing treatments" they referred to and prescribed were actually small doses of albuterol syrup. So she takes them by mouth rather than through the nebulizer machine. They also referred us to a pediatric neurologist due to the fact that the right side of her body is slightly weaker than the left.

So, after telling Nick what the doctor said, he asked me to pass the news on to the rest of the family. I did and was shocked to get a text from mom later that afternoon that read, "I just heard the news. If dad can find me a ticket do you want some help for a few days?"

Let me just say I was FLOORED! I never thought that someone would offer to do such a wonderful thing for me and while I longed to say yes, the more rational part of me said, "you'll be ok, she doesn't have to spend her time off and her money on you..." Then she called me. And I can't even express in words how overwhelmed I was with gratitude for a mother that would be willing to leave her vacation early, fly a state away and be willing to help me pick up the pieces of a quite exhausting week.

All I could think of was how much I had not gotten done during the week. I knew about the PILE of clothes in the hallway waiting to be washed. And the juice spills on the kitchen floor I just hadn't gotten back to wipe up. Not to mention my craft space...(really, I won't mention it again).

But, that being said, here she is...rocking my babies and singing songs and exercising Brookie's right side. Teaching me how to cook and tricks for helping Brooklyn's oh-so-chapped little nose.

We had a wonderful lesson in our combined R.S. and P.H. today and the teacher said this, "Little things are just little things. But faithfulness in little things is a great thing." Let me tell you, having a mother being faithful to the little things, like serving her family, is a great thing to me!!!

Now that I have spilled my gooey and emotional [pumpkin] guts, onto Halloween!!

It was a bummer that Brookie didn't get to stay in her costume longer because it turned out amazingly adorable. This little ladybug is definitely one worth catching and hanging on to!!


My other little girl is growing up WAY TOO FAST! In fact, she's already planning her wedding. So much in fact that she's already got the dress picked out. Here she is modeling! She has it all...from the veil to the shoes...flowers and jewelry. Let me tell you, her costume was a keeper (and a quick thanks to my mom who sewed it all)!!




In this next picture, I don't know how well you can see it, but it's the best one I had. My brother and I handed out candy from our van's "trunk" while Nick took Annalie around to get her "treats". Well, I guess we looked bodyless or something, because we got a lot of people saying "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU??" and "How are you doing that?!"

So, here we are on Sunday, making Halloween cookies with Grandma. Annalie had a blast, and Brooklyn really liked throwing the cookie cutters on the floor and saying, "uh-oh."


Grampa Teasebucket, these last 2 pictures are just for you...you taught her well!



Thanks again to a wonderfully selfless mom and grandma. I don't know what we would do without you!

Happy Halloween!

Can you believe this was 2 years ago? CRAZY!

Wish I was there to see the chicas this year in their cute costumes.

Aww... cute little Brookie last year!

I didn't even get to carve pumpkins this year! :( sad day!

She sure has grown up a lot in a year!

I miss my little buddie so much!

Briana, Zac and Erianne and their model poses!

Cookie Monsters! :)
Hola Familia! This week has been a pretty good one. Kinda stressful cuz its midterms. I did good on 4 out of 5 of them! Then I also started up basketball this week too, which has been awesome, i miss it Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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much! On Friday, I got to go see mom and grandma which was fun and they sent me home with lots of food which was of course awesome! I miss you all like crazy and cant wait to see you for Thanksgiving (well those of you who will actually be in utah) Anyways, I Hope you all have a great week! Be good, remember who you are, dont let south jordan getchya! haha Luv ur guts!
-Sara :)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Masquerade Ball

Hello Family! This was a great week for sure! I aced two of my midterms and did pretty well on all my quizzes! Happy day, but i have three next week so pray for me please, especially on Thursday! ANYWAYS... Can you believe it? This weekend, I, Sara Newman actually dressed up like a real girl and went to a fancy dance! I kept thinking about Annalie and Cinderella! All of my roommates and myself went to the BYU-I Masquerade Ball! It was really fun and it got me out of my bubble! :)
 We decided to "Clash so bad, we matched" as I like to put it. haha Nikki hates when things don't match so for the fun of it we decided to make a statement and did not match! :) (It kinda helped that Bobby didn't have anything that matched the dress either, so we went with it)
 Our roommates right before the dance! Glad we got everyone to go!
 These are the random masks we decided to make! We didn't wear them a ton at the dance cuz they felt funny and were hard to see in but it was still fun to wear for a bit!

This is me in my dress before the Ball with my awesome clashing colors. And yes mom I even wore my blue and green converse under a formal finally! haha :) Wish i had a picture of them on with my dress, but oh well! I hope you all have a wonderful week and get lots done! You all are amazing and I miss ya tons as always! Keep me updated on all your doing!
Luv ur guts
-Sara :)

A Long Week

Well, another week is another week.

Annalie has asked for Grandma every morning this week. I seriously considered climbing in the car with the girls and driving for 12 hours just to give her what she wanted. :) (And to see the "snow" that was supposedly headed your way).

Brookie has cut 2 teeth this week and while you can't see them in pictures yet, they are there. I found Brooklyn had curled herself up inside the movie cupboard one day this week. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was trying to catch her all stuffed in, but she moved. :(


Here is the highlight of our week. Tuesday night, Nick came home to have FHE with us. We decided we should probably start that habit sooner rather than later. Annalie's current favorite BoM story is Samuel the Lamanite. So, we sang a song, prayed and then reviewed the story. We talked about other examples in the Book of Mormon that had to make good choices when others wanted to hurt them for those choices (Abinidi, Nephi). Then came the fun part. Daddy pretended to be Samuel and told us (the people) to "Make good choices because Jesus will be born".

Well, we talked about how 'the people' tried to hurt Samuel and Heavenly Father protected him. Well, since Annalie and I were 'the people' we got to try to "hurt" Samuel by throwing marshmallows at him. But Heavenly Father protected Samuel because marshmallows are soft and couldn't hurt him. :)

Note the white streak in front of Nick's shirt--Annalie's very deliberate aim...


...and then Annalie got a turn to be Samuel.


It was quite the evening and she really enjoyed it. I am hoping that this week's lesson goes as well as last week.

We hope you all have a great week too. We miss you all more than you know!

P.S. We are super excited to post Halloween pictures next week. Wish you were here to trick-or-treat with us!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Back to Utah!

Yes! We can finally wear beanies up here! :)
Miss my sista  like crazy up here in Rexburg!

Had fun just being silly with Brit!

SO STINKIN JEALOUS! Her tongue is better! ha ha

Love love love ya Brit! You make me so happy!
Hey Familia!
I miss you all like crazy! This weekend I was able to drive down to South Jordan to see Brit and go to Zach's homecoming talk! He did a great job! It was sooo fun to see my friends and just be dumb chicas like good ol times. My favorite part though out of the whole weekend was being with Brittany! What a lucky girl I am to have a sister like her! I wasnt able to see Mom and Dad this time around but they were off having fun with yall in Arizona! SO JEALOUS! Sounds and Looks like you guys had a blast! I am back in Rexburg and yet again another Monday of school. But it started off well cuz i just took my first Mid Term and killed it! :) Now just pray for me that I can do the same on Thursday or Friday! Its starting to feel like winter up here and is getting colder by the day. Time to pull out the beanies, coats and gloves! Hopefully i dont die up here! Jk It will be fun and a good experience! :)
I better go get some more studying done! You guys are awesome! Have a great week!
Luv ur guts
-Sara :)

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The Visit

Of course, we had to write about our visit from Grandma Angel and Grandpa Dirt.

On Wednesday morning, we got up and went to run some errands. I told Annalie that Grandma and Grandpa were coming tomorrow. She asked me if she could go to grandma's house because she was all buckled up to go on the big roads. Then she said "Just kidding, they are coming to my house. Are Grandpa Dirt and Grandma Angel going to bring Dakota with them?" I reminded her that Dakota is living with Heavenly Father. And she said, "But Heavenly Father made him all better now, can he come home?" It was a little hard to explain that one to a two-year-old, but I tried anyways.

Thursday morning when we got up, I told Annalie that grandma and grandpa would be there for lunch time and that we should party when they got here. She told me that we couldn't have a party because we didn't have any balloons or presents. So we went and got some. :)


Annalie was really excited when Grandpa called her on skype and asked her to come outside and show him where her house was. When I explained that g-ma and g-pa were by the park, she started freaking out and could hardly get her flip-flops on fast enough. She started crying that they weren't going to find her. So, we rushed out the door just in time for them to drive up the street.

Annalie wasted no time putting Grandma to work playing.


Of course, the IPAD was a hit with both the girls (thank goodness mom and dad both have one, eh?).

Mom bought Halloween hats for both the girls and they enjoyed hanging out in them off and on during the weekend.




Friday, we spent the day at the pumpkin patch. No surprise here, Annalie was crazy-spoiled! :) She got to do everything from her first real pony ride to pig races.



The petting zoo was a hit with Annalie but Brookie didn't like the goats very much.


Annalie took a bit to warm up to the carousel. It only took 3 turns to get a good smile out of her.


She even got to ride a train...




...AND pick out a pumpkin to take home. :D



Brookie, naturally, was content to just be there.


It was a wonderful day.

Saturday grandma and grandpa took her to get a new Cinderella dress at the Disney store, since she had outgrown the other one. Then she spent the afternoon "booming" grandpa (holding onto the tied part of a balloon and hitting grandpa with it), while grandma showed mommy how to cook a roast and hemmed Annalie's new pants.

Sunday was a bit of a hard morning. Annalie knew what was coming and avoided it by keeping grandma busy with her as long as possible. When it came time for them to go, she crawled in the back of the van into her seat and said we had to follow them. So we did as far as we could on our way to church.

It was a wonderful weekend and we are so grateful for all that Mom and Dad do for us and our kids. We can't wait to come visit you next time. Thanks for the great memories!

Elder Davis Comes Home!

Well, I cant believe after two years Elder Davis is home! I went with dad to see him at the airport which was so good, but so weird! The poor boy was so scared to even look at me! But he was still an elder, so I don't blame him-It must be so hard to get used to girls not being "off limits" anymore. Today, Sara and I went to his Homecoming. He had such a great talk- what an amazing person he has become. I am so proud of him. It's been a fun weekend to see him and Sara, I am such a lucky girl! Hope everyone else is doing great!
I spotted Him first coming down the stairs- It was like butterfly's in my tummy!

Seeing Zach at the airport

Me and the Davis Family at the airport
-Brit